Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Holidays In Hell

Holidays In Hell
Holidays In Hell
Author: P J Orourke
Travels to hellholes around the globe looking for trouble--from Lebanon to Epcot-- the truth and a good time.
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9780330306836
ISBN-10: 0330306839
Publication Date: 12/1998
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 5

3.5 stars, based on 5 ratings
Publisher: Pan Books Ltd
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
Read All 6 Book Reviews of "Holidays In Hell"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed Holidays In Hell on + 8 more book reviews
No doubt about it: P. J. O'Rourke has a bizarre sense of fun. "What I've ... been," he writes in his introduction to Holidays in Hell "is a Trouble Tourist--going to see insurrections, stupidities, political crises, civil disturbances and other human folly because ... because it's fun." Forget Hawaii or the Poconos--O'Rourke gets his jollies in places like war-torn Lebanon where he is greeted at the border by a gun barrel in his face, or Seoul, just in time for election-day violence. Wherever he goes, however, O'Rourke takes his quirky sense of humor, laser eye for detail, and artful way with words: a Philippine army officer is "powerful-looking in a short, compressed way, like an attack hamster," and the Syrian army is described as having "dozens of silly hats, mostly berets in yellow, orange and shocking pink, but also tiny pillbox chapeaux.... The paratroopers wear shiny gold jumpsuits and crack commando units have skin-tight fatigues in a camouflage pattern of violet, peach, flesh tone and vermilion on a background of vivid purple. This must give excellent protective coloration in, say, a room full of Palm Beach divorcees in Lily Pulitzer dresses."

O'Rourke's flip, sarcastic style isn't for everyone, of course; the concept that anyone could find sightseeing in the Beirut or El Salvador of the 1980s fun might prove offensive to more than a few readers right off the bat. But love him or hate him, P. J. O'Rourke knows how to tell a good story, and if you like your travel writing laced with more than a little cynicism, Holidays in Hell could be just the book you've been looking for.
constant-reader avatar reviewed Holidays In Hell on + 130 more book reviews
A funny little travelogue with a satirical edge that's really wonderful.
JK avatar reviewed Holidays In Hell on + 139 more book reviews
Mr. O'Rourke gets publications to pay him to visit places most of us would pay to avoid.
ccwriter avatar reviewed Holidays In Hell on + 186 more book reviews
Hilarious book about visiting some of the lesser desirable "holiday" spots -- from Beirut (when you only had a chance, not a guarantee of being kidnapped) to Dollywood. Laugh out loud funny.
reviewed Holidays In Hell on + 19 more book reviews
Are you thinking on visiting certain parts of the world ??? well, before you buy your plane ticket, you should read this hilarious book first ???